Ride-On fares to get tricky with train transfers

By Jennifer Deseo | Dec 9, 2008

Updated Dec 9, 2008, at 9:30 p.m.

Rocking the no. 1 Ride-On bus from Grubb Street, or the no. 2 from Lyttonsville, to the Red Line at Silver Spring station? If so, the county and Metro have changes in store for you.

Starting Jan 4, 2009, commuters who use the SmartTrip electronic fare card get a 50-cent discount when transferring from a Ride-On bus to Metro rail. However, passengers lose their usual 90-cent discount on the ride home, when they transfer from Metro to the Ride-On system.

That’s because both the Metro and Ride-On systems are eliminating paper transfer slips, which give rail riders a break on bus transfers. Translation: exit the Red Line, and expect to drop a full fare to ride the no. 12 down Wayne Avenue.

That may not be the case for too long, explained Esther Bowring, a county spokesperson. The county council might lop 50 cents off the Ride-On fare for passengers transferring from Metro rail with a SmartTrip card.

Let’s do the math. In this example, Joe Shmoe takes a Ride-On bus and Metro train to get to work in The District, and does the reverse on the way home. Under the current game plan, Shmoe gets no discount on the way to work, but gets 90 cents off his ride home.

If the county council approves the proposed change, Shmoe gets a 50-cent break in the morning and another 50-cent break in the evening. Those savings come to one buck cash money.

The county council gets its first hard look at the proposal on Jan 13, and if approved, the discount would go into effect on Jan 25. But until that meshugas is sorted out, rail riders must pay the full $1.35 ($1.25 with the SmartTrip card) to transfer onto a Ride-On bus, Bowring said.

The bus-to-rail price break, as well as free bus-to-bus transfers, drop for SmartTrip card users only, Bowring emphasized. And because paper transfer slips are out, so are free bus-to-bus transfers and round-trip bus rides for those paying cash, she added.

Translation: go electronic, or else pay the full fare each time you hop a bus.

Update: The headline was edited to be less alarmist. Also, the content was edited for clarity. I fucking hate math stories. — JD (Dec 9, 2008)

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Shuttle bus takes more renters for free ride

By Jennifer Deseo | Oct 16, 2008

The county’s free VanGo shuttle, which lugs people around the central business district, recently scored an extra set of wheels and a longer route, Gary Stith, director of Silver Spring’s regional center, told the hood’s citizens advisory board Monday.

Copyright (c) 2008 by Small World Photos

While operating hours haven’t changed (7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday), the three buses now stop by a few more area apartment complexes:

  • East-West Highway just northwest of Colesville Road, for my peeps at the Lenox Park apartments
  • East-West Highway near Falkland Lane, serving Falkland Chase’s eastern and northern parcels (Wussup?!)
  • 16th Street between East-West Highway and Spring Street, in case players at the Summit Hills apartments don’t feel like walking
  • Spring Street between 16th Street and Second Avenue, if you’ve gotta make a Blockbuster run
  • Second Avenue at Spring Street, for my home-owning homies in Woodside
  • Second Avenue at Fenwick Street, on the south side of those apartments behind the Georgian Towers (Anyone know the name?)
  • Cameron Street at the Tastee Diner (Holler!)
  • Cameron Street east of Georgia Avenue, and again at Fenton Street, for the party people at the Montgomery Arms apartments

The VanGo bus eventually wends its way past the Downtown Silver Spring shopping center and through the temporary bus operations at the Silver Spring Metro station. From there, it dips into South Silver Spring via Georgia Avenue and hits the Metro station’s south side. It then loops back towards the apartments. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Just don’t get used to the free, air-conditioned ride, regional director Stith warned. Funding for the expanded service is only temporary, until construction on the new transit center wraps in 2010, he said.

Photos courtesy of Silver Spring Occasional Photo. Copyright (c) 2008 by Small World Photos. Reprinted with previous permission.

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Mass-transit budget cuts are off kilter, council members say

By Jennifer Deseo | Sep 15, 2008

ROCKVILLE — Maryland could deal a bigger budgetary blow to the Purple Line mass-transit project than to Baltimore’s Red Line project. And county council members want to know what’s up with that.

“I find it problematic that there’s money for the Red Line but not the Purple Line,” District 2 Dem Roger Berliner said during a Monday-morning meeting of the council’s transportation committee. The cash would be better spent on improving the ride to the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in light of imminent base realignment, than stashed in a mass-transit project in Baltimore that’s still in the works, he said.

Bawlmore’s Red Line, which is a half-step behind the purple Bethesda-to-New Carrollton project in planning, could be hit with a $17.6 million cut, the Maryland Daily Record reported. Compare that with the $25 million gash the state could tear into the Purple Line’s budget, The Washington Post cited.

Furthermore, numbers crunched by the county’s department of transportation puts the Red Line in worse standing for federal funding — and thus, actual construction — than the Purple Line. Cost-effectiveness studies peg a per-passenger cost of up to $62 for the Red Line, above the fed’s ceiling of $24 per passenger. Meanwhile, the Purple Line’s cost effectiveness sits between $14 and $23 per passenger, DOT’s Edgar Gonzales explained.

The difference “not only treats us unequally, but sends the message that the state may be willing to spend nothing but state money on the Red Line,” Gonzalez said.

The Purple Line isn’t the only local job that could feel the state’s pinch. The county’s Ride On bus system might lose out on $5 million in state funds, DOT’s Arthur Holmes told the committee. That cut would jeopardize 10 hybrid buses currently on order, though Holmes said the department would look into refinancing or tapping the state’s transportation trust fund.

And Montgomery Hills can forget about a traffic study of Georgia Avenue near 16th Street anytime soon. The $3 million to cover that work has been scratched, budget analyst Glenn Orlin told the committee.

So what’s a county to do? Council member George Leventhal suggested a “rob Peter, pay Paul” scenario, where funds would be funneled from epic projects (like the 10-year reinvention of the Georgia Avenue-Randolph Road intersection) into projects with shorter time lines. He and his committee colleagues also tossed around the idea of tapping into the county’s liquor-bond revenues.

The council and MoCo exec Ike Leggett will take the next 10 days to brainstorm solutions. The county will then pitch its argument to Annapolis, committee members decided.

On Thursday, state transportation secretary John Porcari said $1.1 billion had to go from the state’s six-year, $10.5 billion capital transportation program. Blame the hole on lower revenues from gas and vehicle-titling taxes, Porcari said.

Lead photo: A light-rail station in Charlotte, NC. The Purple and Red lines could be either light rail or bus rapid transit. Courtesy of Flickr user Justin Ruckman.

Updated Sep 16, 2008, for a smoother ride.

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Red Line rolling after rush-hour track fire

By Jennifer Deseo | Aug 14, 2008

Metro’s Red Line was back to business as usual Thursday morning after a small track fire stalled the morning rush hour. (more…)

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Red Line a mess after morning track fire

By Jennifer Deseo | Jun 13, 2008

Red Line riders can expect delays of at least one hour — that’s right, people, ONE HOUR — this morning, thanks to a track fire that cut power at some stations. (more…)

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Metro manager rides ups, downs of running the Red Line

By Ronald Pace | May 19, 2008

Track work won’t stall too many weekend plans for Red Line rail riders, but the occasional sick passenger can still do the trick, one Metro manager said. (more…)

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